Are You Trapped in the Net?

The Internet lets you communicate instantly, tap vast knowledge, watch news unfold, run a business -- you name it and the Net is your servant.

But could it become your master?

Psychology professor Kimberly Young, Psy.D., founder of the Center for Online and Internet Addiction, began studying Internet addiction after a friend sought help with her husband's online activities. "The husband's actions -- the preoccupation with being online, his lying about the amount of time in front of the computer, the extreme moodiness, and his avoidance of family and friends -- were all traits common to addictive behavior," says Dr. Young, who is also a professor at St. Bonaventure University, near Buffalo, N.Y.

In one survey, "6 percent of the respondents met the criteria for compulsive Internet use and over 30 percent reported that they were using the Net to escape from negative feelings," she says. "The vast majority admitted that while online they lost track of time, felt extremely uninhibited and were more likely to be intimate with another person than in a face-to-face relationship."

How much of a threat?

Some other experts doubt that Internet addiction poses much of a threat.

"The Internet is merely a tool, not a saint or a villain," says New York psychologist Michael Fenichel, Ph.D., founder of the International Society for Mental Health Online. The danger, he says, lies in some people's inability to separate themselves from the Internet's offer of freedom, knowledge and self-gratification.